Farm dams and summer holidays

On average, five to six children a year drown in farm dams and other bodies of water Australia-wide.

Most are under the age of five, and a third of them are visitors on the farm.

That's why it's important for farmers and landholders with dams on their properties to carefully consider their safety pre-cautions over the summer holiday period when children are more likely to be active outdoors or visiting and unfamiliar with their surroundings.

Southern Rural Water has more than 3,000 dams registered across the southern half of Victoria and estimates there are thousands more smaller domestic and stock dams on rural properties.

SRW's General Manager of Groundwater and Rivers, Craig Parker spoke with Jo Printz on the issue, and you can listen to that audio here: